My beagle picks up everything on walks

[TenderSurrender]

Literally everything. Pacifiers, paper bags, food, plastic spoons, clumps of leafs, anything. He's really quick too, so it's already in his mouth before I see it. He's a stubborn little toad too so I have to take whatever it is out of his mouth cause he won't drop it. Any tips for this?

He's just over 4 months

[Mollys Mom]

He is still pretty young so I would really work on the "leave it" command even when you are at home you can practice. You can shorten his leash length too so that he isn't way ahead of you. Carry some treats too, that way if he grabs something from the ground that is unsafe, you can try to use the treat to trade him.

[Cassie]

At the same age, Cassie was a vacuum cleaner...leaves, rocks, chunks of concrete, whatever. She's 11 months now and doesn't do it although I still keep a watch. She does like bugs though!!-yum

[myjackson]

Jackson is the same way. We have to watch him like a hawk, and hopefully catch him in time to pry his jaws open to get whatever it is out. He's almost 11 months.

[1BeagleHouse]

Bella was also doing this and it was making walks very frustrating. Literally as soon as I got something out of her mouth, before I could scrape it off my hand she had picked up something else. She was nearly 4 months when we got her and now she's 5 months. The good news is that she's getting much better. I think it's the result of a few things: I've been working very consistently on "leave it!" both in the house and on walks, and she really gets it. Even if she doesn't actually walk away from whatever it is, or drop it if she's got it in her mouth (and she does actually often drop the thing!), she gets this look that I know that she knows she's supposed to leave it. Also, I always reward her "leaving it" with a treat or a good amount of praise. I'm cutting back on the treats now -- substituting just praise and a good petting -- because I start to feel that she's training me; she goes for something, I say "leave it", she leaves it and trots over for the treat. Finally, I have been walking her constantly in the same locations, so by now she has pretty much seen and tasted everything; it's all familiar. The only problem that really continues is that she insists on taking bites of bark right off the trees. Makes me crazy, but as we're surrounded by forest, there's no way to avoid them. So we'll keep working on it. Just be consistent and don't make it a battle. Be firm, give your Beagle a chance to "leave it", take it out of his mouth if that doesn't work, reward the good behavior, and every now and then, let him win one. Bella feels like it's a big deal if I let her carry a stick around. The minute she starts to chew on it, tho', it's "leave it!"

[1BeagleHouse]

(accidental repost)

[Cassie]

Cassie is 11 months and lately we started walking in a park where there are pine cones and pods that fall from the trees and she hasn't tried to grab a single one-I'm amazed! it's just all sniffing